Bad Planning

So...Whoever decided to have my birthday and 18 de septiembre the same week made a big mistake. We are dying here. SOOO much food! Ahhh!!! The Chileans show their love by food, which is nice sometimes, but also not so great when they get offended if you don't want it! For my birthday, a total of SEVEN cakes/pies were made or bought in my behalf. Woow. We thought we were gonna die. But don't worry, we only had a piece of 4 of them on my actual birthay (still way too much) haha. They are way sweet here. I am really grateful I was able to be here in this sector for my birthday!  I got a few phone calls from some of my missionary friends, and at the end of the day Hermana and Presidente Martinez even called and sang to me! That was really special, because I know they don't do that for everyone. :)  I love them so much. 

So this holiday is definitely HUGE here.... They get 5 days off and have been crazy since last Thursday preparing for it. Which is fun for them, but not so much for us. We haven't had the best time this week finding people in their houses or getting let into houses for the first time. Even contacting people in the streets is hard because everyoneee has something they need to be doing for this day. I think it's even bigger than Christmas here, in all seriousness. Haha. So, that's been a bit of a bummer not being able to find and teach a lot of people. We are going to enjoy more empanadas today, but are excited for tomorrow when we can stop eating altogether (we're considering doing a 40 day and 40 night fast, you know, like Jesus did?), and have people give us the time of day again.  :)

We did teach Rocio and Amalia on Saturday. Sadly, they aren't progressing as much anymore... Well they're still reading and praying but they are not putting God first. They went out of town Sunday morning and said they ''couldn't'' go after church. So lame. It's hard cause they were basically our only progressing investigators. But we're not going to give up on them completely. We do know that we need to find more investigators and not focus everything on just them. We are really excited to find more great people and be better misionaries and really help make a difference here. It's hard not to feel lame when we don't see the fruits of our labor. But we are learning a lot about diligence and being patient, waiting for the Lord's blessings. 

Parents, I seriously love you SO much. I LOVED your package, the videos, especially the long, beautiful video you  made me for my birthday, during which I cried basically non-stop. I love you both so much, and am so grateful for ALL you have done and continue to do for me. I will be home in not too long, hang in there. 

Well, that's all the time I have for today, sorry it's a shorter one this week. Love you all so much. Take care, be good, remember You are a child of God! And you can do GREAT things with your life. A quote that I wrote on a piece of paper and put on our wall in our room, that I heard from good ol' Brother Greiner, goes like this:

You are a child of God. If you remember that, you will stand taller, reach higher, and never be the same again.

I know that is true, and that we have divine potential. We can do anything, let's do it.  :)

Lots of love,

Hermana Anderton